seems like this is what you get when you put an old guard KGB guy, who longs for the past and has short man syndrome, in charge of a country. russia had every chance to have good relations with europe and n. america. instead, they played bully with natural gas, made threats against former USSR holdings, and made alliances with countries that are outspoken enemies of the the west.

i, too, missed the humor. not enough coffee yet?

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.....The greatest changes occur in their country without their cooperation. They are not even aware of precisely what has taken place. They suspect it; they have heard of the event by chance. More than that, they are unconcerned with the fortunes of their village, the safety of their streets, the fate of their church and its vestry. They think that such things have nothing to do with them, that they belong to a powerful stranger called “the government.” They enjoy these goods as tenants, without a sense of ownership, and never give a thought to how they might be improved.....

.....The greatest changes occur in their country without their cooperation. They are not even aware of precisely what has taken place. They suspect it; they have heard of the event by chance. More than that, they are unconcerned with the fortunes of their village, the safety of their streets, the fate of their church and its vestry. They think that such things have nothing to do with them, that they belong to a powerful stranger called “the government.” They enjoy these goods as tenants, without a sense of ownership, and never give a thought to how they might be improved.....

Vermmy35, I think you and kathyp are right about that.It's an interesting subject to me because I have a good friend who is from Russia, who grew up under socialistic rule. She must have been in her late teens when the wall came down.Anyway- it was interesting to see her reaction when the Russian invasion of Georgia happened last year. She was in support of it, and her perspective on the reasons for the invasion were completely different from what we were hearing in the press here.

Vermmy35, I think you and kathyp are right about that.It's an interesting subject to me because I have a good friend who is from Russia, who grew up under socialistic rule. She must have been in her late teens when the wall came down.Anyway- it was interesting to see her reaction when the Russian invasion of Georgia happened last year. She was in support of it, and her perspective on the reasons for the invasion were completely different from what we were hearing in the press here.

a lot of the soviet satellite states were not much like by the Russians. they weren't liked before the revolution. some, like Poland, were an almost constant thorn in the side of the USSR. some of the animosity between the general publics of the different countries is more ethnic, than political.

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.....The greatest changes occur in their country without their cooperation. They are not even aware of precisely what has taken place. They suspect it; they have heard of the event by chance. More than that, they are unconcerned with the fortunes of their village, the safety of their streets, the fate of their church and its vestry. They think that such things have nothing to do with them, that they belong to a powerful stranger called “the government.” They enjoy these goods as tenants, without a sense of ownership, and never give a thought to how they might be improved.....

This was probably scheduled to show Georgian's why they should join NATO. BTW it's not funny.

They were in the process, that's why Russia invaded them... to prevent them from joining NATO.

This is the part that I found so funny:

Quote

Now that the Obama administration has extended an olive branch to Moscow, offering to "reset" badly damaged relations, Russia must find a new outlet for its irritation with the West, said Alexander Golts, a military analyst with the Russian online newspaper Yezhednevny Zhurnal.

"NATO is the most useful for this," Golts said. "You can blame NATO without blaming any particular country. It's a nickname for the West in general."

Maybe it's just my sense of humor, but I do so enjoy it when world leaders of nations that rely on their people's hatred of the US for their power suddenly lose their footing and are left scrambling to find a way to continue rallying the support of their people.